Counting kisses - Softcover

PreS-How many kisses does it take to say goodnight? A fussy baby receives "ten little kisses on teeny tiny toes/nine laughing kisses on busy, wriggly feet/eight squishy kisses on chubby, yummy knees," and so on down to "one last kiss on your sleepy, dreamy head." Each member of the family takes a turn bestowing kisses on the child: mom, dad, grandma, big sister, and even the dog and cat. Katz uses bold colors and lines to accent the flat, yet expressive illustrations. Heavy use of pink, combined with an array of brightly colored patterns, adds to the tender, happy tone of the story. Collage pieces are seamlessly woven into the gouache and colored-pencil illustrations, and Katz throws in some surprising perspectives, such as the mother kissing the baby's toes shown from the infant's point of view. The final spread, which shows the whole family smiling down at the sleeping child in her crib, epitomizes the loving warmth of this pitch-perfect bedtime story. Though somewhat reminiscent of Molly Bang's Ten, Nine, Eight (Greenwillow, 1983), this delightful book has a charm all its own and will surely become a standard at baby and toddler storytimes.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, Eldersburg, MD

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